Link and System-Level NOMA Simulator: The Reproducibility of Research

This study focuses on the design of a MATLAB platform for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) based systems with link-level and system-level analyses. Among the different potential candidates for 5G, NOMA is gaining considerable attention owing to the many-fold increase in spectral efficiency as compared to orthogonal multiple access (OMA). In this study, a NOMA simulator is presented for two and more than two users in a single cell for link-level analysis; whereas, for system-level analysis, seven cells and 19 cells scenarios were considered. Long-term evolution (LTE) was used as the baseline for the NOMA simulator, while bit error rate (BER), throughput and spectral efficiency are used as performance metrics to analyze the simulator performance. Moreover, we demonstrated the application of the NOMA simulator for different simulation scenarios through examples. In addition, the performance of multi-carrier NOMA (MC-NOMA) was evaluated in the presence of AWGN, impulse noise, and intercell interference. To circumvent channel impairments, channel coding with linear precoding is suggested to improve the BER performance of the system.

Inter-cell interference mitigation using adaptive reduced power subframes in heterogeneous networks

With the remarkable impact and fast growth of the mobile networks, the mobile base stations have been increased too, especially in the high population areas. These base stations will be overloaded by users, for that reason the small cells (like pico cells) were introduced. However, the inter-cell interference will be high in this type of Heterogeneous networks. There are many solutions to mitigate this interference like the inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and then the further enhanced ICIC (Fe-ICIC) where the almost blank subframes are used to give priority to the (victim users). But it could be a waste of bandwidth due to the unused subframes. For that reason, in this paper, we proposed an adaptive reduced power subframe that reduces its power ratio according to the user’s signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) in order to get a better throughput and to mitigate the intercell interference. When the user is far from the cell, the case will be considered as an edge user and will get a higher priority to be served first. The results show that the throughput of all users in the macro cells and pico cell will be improved when applying the proposed scheme in term of throughput for the users and the cells.

Pilot Assignment Based on Graph Coloring and Location Information in Multicell Multiuser Massive MIMO Systems

A massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system uses a large number of antennas in the base station (BS) to serve multiple users, which significantly improves the capacity of the system. However, in time division duplex (TDD) mode, the pilot contamination (PC) is inevitable due to the multiplexing of pilots. This paper proposed a pilot assignment based on graph coloring and location information (GC-LI) to improve the performance of users. Specifically, based on graph coloring, the proposed GC-LI algorithm combines location information like the angle of arrival (AoA), distance, and correlation to construct an interference graph. Then, we calculate the interference between any two users and use the postprocessing discrete Fourier transform (DFT) filtering process to effectively distinguish the users with nonoverlapping AoAs. Finally, according to the interference graph, the GC-LI algorithm is proposed to mitigate the intercell interference (ICI) between users with the same pilot by assigning different pilots to connected users with high ICI metrics based on some regulation. Simulation results show that the GC-LI algorithm is suitable for various types of cells. In addition, compared with the existing pilot assignment algorithms based on graph coloring, users’ average signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and uplink achievable sum rate (ASR) are significantly improved.

Walsh–Hadamard Transform Based Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and Interference Rejection Combining in Next-Generation HetNets

In heterogeneous networks (HetNets), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has recently been proposed for hybrid-access small-cells, promising a manifold network capacity compared to OMA. One of the major issues with the installation of a hybrid-access mechanism in small-cells is the cross-tier interference (intercell interference (ICI)) caused by the macrocell users (MUs) that are unable to establish a connection to the small-cell base station (SBS). In this paper, a joint strategy is proposed for hybrid-access small-cells using the Walsh–Hadamard transform (WHT) with NOMA and interference rejection combining (IRC) to achieve high performance gains and mitigate intercell interference (ICI), respectively. WHT is applied mathematically as an orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) to achieve diversity in communication systems. When applied jointly with NOMA, it ensures better performance gains than the conventional NOMA. It reduces the bit error rate (BER) and enhances subsequent throughput performance of the system. IRC is used at the receiver side for managing the cross-tier interference caused by MUs that are unable to connect to the small-cell base station (SBS) for hybrid-access. The work considers both ideal and nonideal successive interference cancellation (SIC) conditions for NOMA. Mathematical modeling is provided for the proposed joint strategy for HetNets and the results validate it in terms of BER and subsequent user throughput performance, compared to the conventional NOMA approach.

Qualitative analysis for coverage probability and energy efficiency in cognitive-femtocell networks under macrocell infrastructure

<div>The network coverage and energy efficiency issues in heterogeneous cognitive-femtocell networks over the macrocell network is studied. Cognitive functions in wireless network nodes are serviceable with the macrocell infrastructure to achieve a balance between two desirable</div><div>but incompatible features: coverage and energy efficiency. There are two basic but related aspects of cognitive radios (CRs) in the context of wireless communications: optimum CRs for energy efficiency and the act of the functioning of CRs with energy efficiency. To fully utilise the cognitive capability, a dual-tier network architecture is assumed where both the macrocell and the femtocell have a bearing</div><div>on the cognitive capability. Owing to the salient features of femtocells, they can improve the coverage and enhance the spectrum efficiency by reutilising the frequency spectrum allocated to the macrocell, although, the resulting intercell interference accompanied by the same frequency coverage cannot be underestimated. The effectiveness of the scheme is verified by extensive Matlab simulation.</div>

Qualitative analysis for coverage probability and energy efficiency in cognitive-femtocell networks under macrocell infrastructure

<div>The network coverage and energy efficiency issues in heterogeneous cognitive-femtocell networks over the macrocell network is studied. Cognitive functions in wireless network nodes are serviceable with the macrocell infrastructure to achieve a balance between two desirable</div><div>but incompatible features: coverage and energy efficiency. There are two basic but related aspects of cognitive radios (CRs) in the context of wireless communications: optimum CRs for energy efficiency and the act of the functioning of CRs with energy efficiency. To fully utilise the cognitive capability, a dual-tier network architecture is assumed where both the macrocell and the femtocell have a bearing</div><div>on the cognitive capability. Owing to the salient features of femtocells, they can improve the coverage and enhance the spectrum efficiency by reutilising the frequency spectrum allocated to the macrocell, although, the resulting intercell interference accompanied by the same frequency coverage cannot be underestimated. The effectiveness of the scheme is verified by extensive Matlab simulation.</div>

Interference Management in Heterogeneous Networks

In evolving fifth generation (5G), some demands that to be addressed are improved data rate, increased capacity, decreased latency and better quality of service. Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) is considered as an effective way to meet these prime objectives. Deployment of HetNets faces a number of challenges, among which interference management is of much importance. This chapter has summarized the major challenges and solutions of interference management. Interference cancellation, avoidance and coordination are discussed in detail, including enhanced intercell Interference Coordination (eICIC), Coordinated Multi-point Transmission (CoMP) et al. In addition, the future challenges of interference management have also been presented.

Enhanced ABSF Algorithm with a Relay Function in LTE Heterogeneous Networks

In this study, we enhance the almost blank subframe (ABSF) algorithm in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) heterogeneous network (HetNet) by providing a relay function. The ABSF is a technique proposed by the Third Generation Partnership Project to reduce interference in a HetNet. Despite the fact that the ABSF effectively mitigates intercell interference, it has two major disadvantages. First, the ABSF algorithm alters the scheduling policy of macro base stations. Second, it degrades the capacity of users served by femto base stations. Our proposed enhanced algorithm applies a relay function to assist victim macro user equipment (VMUE), and it reduces the side effects caused by the ABSF algorithm. Taking resource allocation and power control into account, the relay function assists VMUE in such a way that interference with other users is minimized. Via simulation results, the proposed algorithm exhibits improvements of 18% and 8% for system throughput and user satisfaction, respectively, in comparison with the conventional ABSF.